In today’s STAR, the Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong wrote that the Malaysian Government will take retaliatory action if needed, in order to protect the rights and livelihoods of Malaysian small farmers, against the proposed EU ban on Palm Oil biofuels.

“Ironically, while it was a Frenchman, Henri Fauconnier, who planted the seeds that transformed into our economic behemoth, it is his fellow countrymen and other members of the European Union (EU) Parliament who are trying to cripple the livelihood of our smallholders and other Malaysian dependents”.

“In a sequence of acts that is akin to crop apartheid, the EU Parliament has taken steps to raise trade barriers, leading to ultimate breach of the EU’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments and effectively jeopardising the Malaysia-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations”.

“We will continue to engage our critics and if there is a need to take protective and retaliatory action, we will do so without hesitation. I have also engaged my colleagues in Indonesia and via the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC); we will ensure that our response to this concerted anti-palm oil campaign is structured and systematic”.

Human Faces of Palm Oil

Faces of Palm Oil is a joint project of the National Association of Small Holders (NASH), the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), the Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association (DOPPA), and the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) that seeks to advocate on behalf of Malaysian small farmers.